Mobile phones have played a very important role in daily life. Not like other electronic devices, such as a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) which may die out as time goes by, a mobile phone incorporates lots of functions with components embedded. It looks not only like a phone, but a camera, a micro-computer, a music player, or even a projector. Moreover, a mainstream of mobile phone design is to be able to co-work with other electronic devices. For example, a smart phone can connect to a television or a refrigerator so that controls of these electronic devices are available by finger touching on the touch screen. Applications of mobile phones are diversified and functions of the mobile phones are keeping increasing.
A mobile phone is a standalone device. Therefore, in order to connect to other electronic devices, a suitable connecting media is very important for different application. The media may be wired. A USB cable can be used to link the mobile phone with a desktop computer. The media may be wireless. Electromagnetic wave is the most applied one. Thus, the mobile phone can use a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth module to achieve communication with other electronic devices. The media mentioned above are common ways which utilize existing I/O modules. However, there is also an I/O module which can play the connecting media but ignored. This is a lighting module in the mobile phone.
The lighting module is usually used to provide light beams for a camera module when a photographed target is located in a dark environment. For consideration of power consumption, a Light Emitting Diode (LED) or a LED module is often employed. Light beams from the lighting module may have different aspects. Hence, a message or command can be transmitted. However, applications of the lighting module as a connecting media are hardly seen in the prior arts.
An invention related to the application of the lighting module in the mobile phone is disclosed in the China Utility Model Patent No. 200620017306.9. Please refer to FIG. 1 along with the description below. The Utility Model patent is about a mobile phone communication system. The mobile phone communication system includes a first mobile phone 1 which has a first central processing unit 2 and a flash lamp 3. The first central processing unit 2 converts a massage with a pre-set coding rule into a corresponding control signal, and further controls the flash lamp 3 to send out a flashing signal. On the other hand, the mobile phone communication system further includes a second mobile phone 4 which has a second central processing unit 5 and a light sensor 6. The light sensor 6 receives the flashing signal and the second central processing unit 5 decodes the flashing signal. With the system mentioned above, messages can be sent through a camera module in a mobile phone along with a coding method, such as the Morse code. A novel communication style used for sight distance is available.
Although the China Utility Model Patent No. 200620017306.9 has indicated a way to apply the lighting module in the mobile phone, there are some problems needed to be improved. First, there is no explanation in what format the flashing signal is sent. Second, the application is only workable within two mobile phones. A wider application should be available. Therefore, a method and a system for achieving communication between a mobile phone and an electronic device to improve the above problems are desired. In addition, the method and system should be applied to other mobile devices, such as a tablet.